Machine for applying nuts to bolts



H. THOMAS. MACHINE FOR APPLYING NUTS T0 BOLTS.

APPLICATION FILD MAY 22, 1920.

Pamnted Oct. 1W, 1922.,

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

. H. i"rl-low@ MACHINE-ima 'APPLYING Nurs To Bons.

APPLIC'AT'ION FILED MAY. 22, 19'20. v

Patented @et 1W, W22

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 Patente ll' W a .ma iii .i haar mi IIEENSON THOMAS, OIF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIIEA.

MACHINE IFOR PPLYING" NUTS TO 'BULTS- Application led. May 22',

To 'all whom t may concern:

Be it known that l, Hanson THOMAS, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Pittsburgh, in the county of Allegheny and State .of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Machines for Applying Nuts to Bolts; and l do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof.. 4 l

My invention relates to a machine for applying nuts to bolts. i

The object of my invention is to provide a simple and eicient machine of this character in which the nuts are mechanically applied to the bolts, provision being made for automatically feeding the nuts to the bolts into position for application, whereby the nuts are quickly applied to the bolts without the employment of manual labor, thereby greatly increasing the output and doing away with the great amount of time and .labor heretofore involved in this operation.

'llo these ends my invention comprises the novel features hereinafter set forth andy and deliver them to the ,nut holderylFig. 5

is a longitudinal section of the nut holder; Fig. 6 is a front view of same; and lFig. 7 is a detail of the nut-delivering mechanism.

lin the drawings, the numeral 2 designates a suit-able bed plate' or base on which the parts composing my machine are mounted.

A shaft 3 is journaled in suitable bear-v ings 4 in standards 5. A pulley 6 on the .shaft 3 is connected up to any suitable source of power, although it is apparent that my machine may be driven directly by an electric motor, if desired.

Mounted on the shaft 3 is the spur-pinion 7 which lmeshes with the gear-wheel 8 mounted on the shaft 9 journaled in suit-4 able fbearings. A bevel-pinion 10| on the shaft 9 engages bevel-pinions 11 and 12.0n the shaft 13. `The pinion 11 is slidably keyed on the shaft 13 and is held in engageinent withthe bevel-pinion 10 by the spring 14 whereby stripping of the gears ieee. serial no. 383,559.

is prevented incase of any obstruction to the rotation ofthe pinion 11 as more fully 'hereinafter set fort Mounted on the shaft 13 is the cam 15 which engages 'the roller 16 mounted in the guide 17. 'llhe trunnions- 18 of the 'roller l16 engage the slide-block 19I mounted in the guide 17. The .slide-block 19 has the downwardly extending portion 2O which is engaged by the fork 21 of the lever 32 pivotally mounted at 23 in the base 2.

Theslide-block 19 has the threaded seat- The carrier 26 is preferably magnetized' for the reason more fully hereinafter set forth. z

The pin 27 normally projects beyond the -free end of the carrier 26 to engage the nut.

The carrier 26 is slidable in the opening 31 in the frame 32. This frame 32 carries the nut-magazine33 by which the nuts are fed one by one so asI to be brought into register with the opening 31. At the upper end of the magazine 33 is the hopper 34 into which the nuts are fed.

A sliutter 34 is hinged'to the nut magazine and normally acts to close the outlet of the magazine when the carrier is in retracted position as shown in Fig. 1, a spring 37 being connected to said shutter and the frame 32 for holding the shutter closed.

Mounted in bearings 41 on the standard 39 is the sprocket 41. The sprocket 41 has the central bore 42 which forms a seat for the hollow nut-holder 43. This nut holder is composed of two parts inserted separately' being advanced into the nut-holder by the carrier 26 should enter in the tapered portion of the holder in the position indicated in dotted lines Fig.6, the upper corner of the nut will project into the cam-slot 48, and by reason of the angular disposition of the slot the nut will be caused to rotate as it is advanced by the carrier, and the nut will be thrown around in position to enter the square seat 49 in which it is held against rotation during the time the nut 'is being screwed on to the holt.

The sprocket pinion 41 is connected up to the sprocket 50 on the shaft 3 by the sprocketchain 51. The sprocket 50 is loosely mounted on the shaft 3 and is held between the plates '52 and 53, a spring 54 on the shaft 3 acting to hold the sprocket ordinarily in frictional driving relation with the plates 53, but permitting of the slipping of the sprocket-wheel 50 in case of an obstruction to the movement of the said wheel.

Mounted on the guide on the bed 2 is the slide 56 which carries the frame 57 This frame 57 supports the' bolt magazine 58 to which the bolts are fed from a hopper 59. The bolts are fed one by lone from the hopper 59 to the magazine 58, and the threaded shanks of the bolts project out beyond the magazine as clearly shown in Fig. 1. 1n order to provide or the delivery of the bolts one by one into position for receiving the nuts, 1 provide the following mechamsm:

A stoprnember 60 is pivotally mounted at 61. A finger 62 on said stop-member projects through theslot 63 into the magmine to prevent the bolts in the magazine from dropping. This stop-member has the cam-face 64 which engages the spring-arm 65 with the inwardly projecting finger 66 adapted to enter the slot 63. A link 67 is pivot-ally connected to the stop-member 60, the lower end of the link being pivotally connected to the rocker 68 mounted on the rock shaft 69. r1`he rocker 68 is provided! with the ledge 70 to support the bolt 71. Secured to the rocker-shaft 69 is the arm 72 which arm is adapted to engage the pawl 73 pivoted at 74 to a bracket 75 on the stationary guide 55. As the frame 57 advances the arm 72 will pass under the pawl 73 and lift the same, but on the return stroke of the slide the arm will ride up on said awl and rock the shaft 69, thereby moving the rockerI 68 and releasing the bolt 71 from the ledge 70. Through the connection by the link 67 with the stop-member 60, said stop-member will be moved to the position indicated in dotted lines Fig. 7, thereby releasing another bolt, and moving the spring'nger 66 into position to temporarily retain the bolts above in the ma azine.

The lever 22 1s connected by the link 77 to the arm 79 on the slide 56 whereby when racines the lever 22 is moved to advance the slid-eblock 19, the frame 57 will be moved toward the nut-holder, as clearly shown in F ig. 3. The spring 80 acts normally to hold the parts 1n position shown in Fig. 1.

I have illustrated my invention as a single machine, although it is apparent that the parts shown may be duplicated and the shaft 13 may be used to drive mechanism in duplicate.

When the machine is in operation, the nuts are fed to the nut-magazine and the bolts to the bolt-magazine one by one from the hoppers 34 and 59. With a nut in the position indicated in F ig. 1 and a bolt 71 in the position indicated 1n the same figure, power is applied, and, through the action of the cam 15, the slide-block 19 will he advanced, and through the connection of the lever' 22 with the arm 79, the frame 57 will be simultaneously moved. The movement of the slide block 19 advances the nut-carrier 26 carrying with it thepin member 27. The pin member 27 enters the opening in the nut and the nut is moved from the magazine, the shutter 35 yielding to allow for the passage of said nut. The nut is advanced into the Haring mouth of the nut holder, and as stated above, if said nut is not in position to register properly with the square seat 49, and should assume the position indicated in dotted lines Fig. 6, the corner of the nut riding over the corner of the cam-slot 48 will cause the nut to be moved to proper po sition to register with the seat 49, and fur ther advance of the carrier 26 will seat the nut in the seat 49 and into contact with the end of the bolt. As the nut-holder is rotating with the sprocket, a rotary movement is imparted to the nut when in the squared seat 49 which screws the nut onto the bolt. W hen the nut enters the seat, the pin 27 will be arrested in its forward. movement by engagement of the transverse pin 28 stop 32, thus permitting the bolt to enter the bore of the nut. rl`he delay face 15 on 'the cani 15 holds the carrier 26 and slide 57 from movement until the nut has been applied to the bolt whereupon said cam permits the backward movement of the arm 22 due to the action of the spring 8() whereupon the carrier is withdrawn and at the same time the frame 57 moves backward carrying the bolt with the nut on it until the arm 72 rides up on the pawl 73, whereupon the bolt is released and drops to a suitable receptacle below, while another bolt is dropped from the magazine, the finger 66 of the spring arm 65 acting to retain the lbolts above in position from dropping. The withdrawal of the spindle 26 to its normal position, as indicated in Fig. 1, permits another nut to drop down into position to be picked up by the pin 27 upon the next advance of the spindle 26.

iaaiaea ln case, for any reason, the nut should fail to connect withv the bolt due to :an imper- -fection in the opening in the nut, to prevent injury to the machine andto provide for the nwithdrawal of any such imperfect nut so as not to interfere with the next operatiomas Stated above, the carrier 26 is preferably magnetized so that upon the withdrawal of said carrier in the case of an imperfect nut, the nut will adhere to the carrier and will be drawn back into contact with the shutter which lies against the carrier when the carrier isl advanced and the mit will be stripped therefrom. What l claim is: l. lln a machine for. applying nuts to bolts, the combination with a-Suitable frame, of a nut-carrier, means for advancing and withdrawing same, a nut-magazine in the path of movement o'li' said carrier, a rotary nut-support beyond saidl magazine, means for rotating sameI whereby on the advance of said nut-carrier, said carrier enters the opening in a nut. in said magazine and del livers same to said rotary holder, and a boltsupport movable to and from said nut-support.

2. ln a machine for applying nuts to bolts,

the combination with a suitable trame, of a nut-carrienmeans for advancing and withdrawing same, a nut-magazine in the path of said carrier, a rotary nut-holder, means for rotating same whereby said carrier enters the opening in a nut in said magazine and delivers same to said nut-holder, a boltholder movable to and from said nut-holder, and means for simultaneously advancing said nut-carrier and moving said bolt-holder in position to engage said nut.

3. ln a machine for applying nuts to bolts, the combination with a suitable frame, of a nut-carrier, means for advancing and withdrawing same, a yieldable pin-member eX- tending beyond sa1d nut-carrier, a nut-magazine in the path of said carrier, a rotary nutholder, means for rotating same, whereby as said carrier advanced said pin-member, en-

' ters the opening in a nut inv said magazine and delivers same to said holder, and a boltholder movable to and from said nut-holder.

4. ln a machine for applping nuts to bolts, the combination with a suitable frame, of a nut-carrier, means for advancing and withdrawing same, a spring-actuated pin-meml the combination with a suitab ber in `said carrier projecting beyond same, a nut-magazine in the path of said carrier, a rotar nut-support, means for rotatlng same w ereby as said carrier advances, said pin-member enters the opening in a nut' in said magazine and delivers same to said nut-holder, and a bolt-support movable to and :trom said nut-holder.-

5. lln a machine for applyin nuts to bolts, le frame, of a magnetized nut-carrier, means for advancing and withdrawing same, a yieldable pin-y pin-member carried in said carrier extending beyond the same, a projection onsaid pinmember engaging a slot formed in 4said carrier, a stop in the path of said projection, a nut-magazine in the path of said carrier, a rotary nut-holder, means for rotating same whereby as said carrier is advanced, said pin-member enters the opening in a nut in said magazine anddelivers same to said nutholder, and a bolt-support movable to and from said nut-holder.

7 ln a machine for applying nuts to bolts, the combination with a suitable frame, of a nut-carrier, means for advancing and withdrawing same, a nut-magazine in the path of said carrier, a shutter for the outlet of said magazine, a rotary nut-holder, means tor rotating same whereby as said carrier is advanced, said pin-member passes through the opening in said magazine forcing open said shutter and delivering said nut to said rotary nut-holder, and a bolt-support movable to and from said nut-holder',

8. ln a machine for applying nuts to bolts, the combination with a suitable frame, a

nut-carrier, means for advancing and withllli 9. ln a machine for applying nutsto bolts,

the combination with a suitable frame, of a guide, a sliding block in said guide, a rotary cam engaging said block, a nut-carrier connected to said block, a yieldable pin-member in said nut-carrier projectingl beyond the same, a nut-magazine in the path of said carrier, a rotary nut-holder, means for rotating same whereby as said carrier advances said pin-member enters an opening in a nutl in said magazine and delivers same to said holder, and a bolt-support movable to and from said nut support.

10. A machine for applying nuts to bolts,

.ga y 1,431,493

the combination of a rotary nut holder havsaid seat, the said cam Will position said nut ing an angular seat, means for rotating same, to enter said seat. 10

said nut-holder having tapering faces at its In testimony whereof, I, the said HANsoN entrance and a cam-face on the upper face THOMAS, have hereunto set my hand.

of said opening, and means for introducing HANSON THOMAS. a nut to said holder whereby if said nut is Witnesses: introduced to said holder With its sides out JOHN F. WILL,

of register With the corresponding sides of S. F. ARMSTRONG. 

